Mighty Empires col - Free

WHAT YOU WILL NEEDMap tiles – you will first need to download themap tile file and print out the tiles. Werecommend that you stick the printed sheets toa cardboard backing before cutting them out.You will find it convenient to colour code theback of the tiles with a marker pen orsomething similar – this makes the packs easierto sort.

Territory Markers – you will need sets ofmarkers to indicate which tiles belong to whichempires. These can be small card chits, tiddly-winks, or any similar coloured tokens – wefound some cheap beads which do the job fine.If playing the team game, you will need todivide each set of markers into numbered sub-sets – eg, Red 1, Red 2, Red 3, Blue 1, Blue 2and so on so, that each player has both anempire and a number.

Special Location Markers – you will needdistinctive markers to represent Mines, WizardsTowers, Necropoli, Temples, Stone Circles, andBridges. At one time these were available asmetal castings from GW Mail Order. As analternative, we would suggest players makesimple card markers with the words, ‘Mine’,‘Temple’, and so forth, written on them.

Attack Arrows – these are used to help workout who attacks whom and are simply cardarrows painted in the same colour as eachempire’s territory markers. You will need onearrow per empire.

NUMBER OF PLAYERSThere are two ways of playing the campaign –either individually with one playerrepresenting one empire, or in teams of up toseven per empire.

In the individual game, each player takescontrol of one empire, its territories andarmies. This allows up to six players to takepart using the basic tile set. More players cantake part simply by expanding the map withadditional tile sets to create a giganticcontinent. This is the usual way the campaignis played amongst a group of friends or regulargamers.

In the team game each empire can have up toseven players, one of whom is the ruler whilstthe others are vassals or chieftains who holdterritories on his behalf. This allows up to 42players to take part using a single tile set (ie, 6empires). There is no need for every empire tohave exactly the same number of players –although it is helpful if they are roughly equal.In practice seven players in every empireproduces a rather crowded game where it is alittle too easy for individual players to getknocked out – so we recommend three or fouras the ideal. Team games are more suitable forweekend inter-club games and the like.

For now we shall describe the individual game– we’ll return to the team game at the end.

MIGHTY EMPIRESBy Rick Priestley & Steve Hambrook with invaluable assistance from Keith Krelle,

Tom Merrigan, Thomas Webster-Deakin, Mark Owen & Ewan Lamont.

“You handle an army with elegance, my Lord. Your considered ruses fool the foe and you arelucky at dice. Oh Prince! These are but parlour games... can you wield an empire?”

Lecture for an Insignificant Princeling by Inuendo Machiavenni

The Mighty Empires campaign system allows Warmaster players to create entire nations andwage wars between them. Players begin by creating a territorial map, establishing their realms,and finally dispatching armies to battle over the surrounding lands. Battles are resolved ascomplete Warmaster games. The system described here is based upon the Mighty Empires gamepublished by Games Workshop but currently out of print.

The full Mighty Empires campaign system is available free from the Resources section of theFanatic Warmaster website (www.warmaster.com). All players need to do is download the maptile PDF files and empire counters PDF files, paste them onto thick card and then cut them out(players can download as many PDF files as they need). Then in conjunction with these rules,players are all set to start their campaign.

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THE MAPThe hexagonal shaped tiles are used to create amap of the campaign land. There is no reasonwhy players shouldn’t position the tiles anywaythey like to create a suitable world – simplyplace them to make a map as you wish.Alternately, use the rules given in the WorldCreation section on page 30.

Before starting the map, remove the capitaltiles – these are the ones with white dots. Oncethe map is finished, each empire rolls a D6 andthe highest score, first chooses and thenpositions his capital tile in place of any tile ofthe same type of set. He is followed by theother empires in descending order of dicescores. Capitals cannot be placed within threetiles of a capital that has already been placed –this ensures the rival empires begin areasonable distance apart.

You can make the map any size you like but itis necessary to use enough tiles to allow theplayers to position their capitals and initialterritories. We recommend that you use 15 tilesper empire taking part, so 4 empires = 60 tiles,6 empires = 90 and so on. This will give youenough space to establish territories but stillallows conflict to begin fairly quickly.

Each empire begins with a capital tile (a tilewith a white dot on it) and an initial territorycomprising the surrounding six tiles. Place asuitable territory marker on these tiles toindicate that they belong to the empire. Theother tiles on the map are neutral areas orwilderness belonging to no one at the start ofthe game.

MAP TILESThe Mighty Empires map tiles are placedtogether to create a fantasy landscape ofmountain chains, rolling plains, mighty riversand wave-swept coasts. Mountain springs formrivers, rising in the highlands and flowingdown to the sea. Wide plains spread out tofoothills, broken here and there by thickforests. River mouths open up into jaggedcoastlines enclosing the heartlands of rivalnations.

There are four different sets of map tiles eachrepresenting one of four different predominantterrain types: Lowland, River Valley, Coastaland Highland. The tile types are mostlyrecognisable and are also indicated on thedownloadable files. It is recommended thattiles are marked on their reverse side to showwhich set they belong to.

Lowland tiles include open plains, forests andhills. Some tiles are entirely covered with onetype of terrain, while others show a fair mixtureof several different types. Note that althoughsome lowland tiles include hills, none containmountains.

A plain lowland file

A lowland tile with hills

A lowland tile,with wood


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Highland tiles are covered with hills andmountains, but will usually also include areasof plain or forest. Some highlands contain riversources, as shown by the blue river linerunning off one side.

A highland tile with river source

River valley tiles contain a stretch of riverrunning from one edge to another. Some tilesshow a river outlet and an area of coast, theseare ‘river end’ tiles used to join the river to thesea. There are also special swamp and lake tiles– these are discussed later.

Swamp

Coastal tiles contain a stretch of coast. Thesetiles are laid to form coastlines, complete withinlets, promontories and other typical coastalfeatures. You will notice that some of thecoastal tiles contain inlets similar to river endsin the river valley pack. These serve a dual rolein that they can be used to represent ordinaryindentations in the coast or denote river endsif necessary.

River valley tile

River end tile

Above: Three coastal tiles

Right: This special coastaltile may double as analternative river end


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Capital tiles are the six tiles marked with acircle indicating the positions of capital cities.The tiles are treated exactly like highland,lowland, coastal or river valley tiles, dependingon the set they belong to.

Capital tile

Sea tiles – we have included a number of bluesea tiles – these were not in the original MightyEmpires game and don’t form part of a tile setas such. They are simply used to fill in any gapsin the sea once the map is complete.

Sea tile

WORLD CREATIONThe map can be laid out in any preferredfashion but we found it convenient to devisethe following guidelines to allow a group ofpeople to create a map together. To begin with,the player who owns the tiles may wish todesign a few maps solo to get a feel of how thesystem works and what looks most attractive.

Divide the tiles into setsRemove the capital tiles. Sort the remainingmap tiles into their four sets – highland,lowland, coastal and river valley. Shuffle eachset and place face down. Make sure you haveample space to lay out the whole map beforeyou begin.

Place the first tileTake a tile from the highland pack and place itface up in the centre of your area. As this is ahighland tile it will include mountains. Orientthe tile so that the mountain peaks pointtowards the intended top of the map. Highlandfeatures are coloured shades of brown. The tilemay also have areas of lowland, as shown byany green areas on the tile. It is also possiblethat the tile will show a river source asindicated by a blue river line flowing off oneedge.


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A highland tile is placed first because this packcontains river sources as well as plain andmountain edges. No other pack contains riversources.

Place the second tileThe second tile is taken from any set thatmatches one of the exposed edges on the firsttile. For example, if the first tile shows fourmountain edges (brown) and two plain edges(green), the second tile must be taken fromeither the highland or the lowland pack: in thiscase you cannot take a river valley or coastaltile as these sets can’t match against anyexposed edge.

Orient the new tile so that any hills ormountains point to the top of the map tomatch the mountain peaks on the first tile. If atile has neither of these features it can beturned in any direction.

Place the tile against an edge that matches tothe tile’s set. A tile from the highland set mustalways be placed against a brown mountain orbrown/green hill edge, a tile from the rivervalley pack must always be placed against ariver edge, and so on.

Note that it is not always necessary that theedges of the two tiles actually match wherethey meet. The tiles have been designed so thatmountain, hill, plain and forest edges blend into each other however they are placed. What isimportant is that the newly positioned tile ischosen from the set that corresponds to theedge colour of the adjoining tile – in otherwords newly placed tiles must match set toedge.

Place the third and subsequent tilesContinue adding tiles to complete the map.Choose a set that matches with at least one ofthe exposed edges of the map. Take the top tilefrom the set. This new tile may be positionedagainst any exposed edge that matches thetile’s set exactly as before. Remember toorientate any tile with mountains or hills sothat these features point in the same directionas other highland tiles.

Once the first two tiles have been placed,subsequent tiles must be positioned so thatthey touch at least two other tile edges. Thenew tile only has to match against one of theseedges. This is intended to ensure the mapunfolds as a compact land mass. With only twoadjacent tiles on the table, the third tile mayonly be placed in one of two positions. As themap grows, there will be more choice as towhere new tiles can be placed.

Note that each new tile only has to match ‘setto edge’ along one edge – it does not have tomatch against every edge, as this would beimpossibly restricting. This enables players toposition tiles fairly easily in one of severalplaces where the tile might fit, and allows for adegree of choice and variation. Except in thecase of the rather obvious exceptions describednext, the other edges are not important: theymay match or they may not. This means that itis often possible to place tiles from twodifferent sets into the same space.

Tiles are placed so that they touch at least two others

The second highland tilecould be placed in any ofthe three positionsindicated, highland tileagainst mountain


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SPECIAL PLACEMENT RULES1. Some tiles have a definite orientation

because they have mountains or hills on them. Other tiles do not have these features and so can be placed any way up. Sometimesa tile’s orientation will make it impossible toplace it on the map. When this happens put the tile at the bottom of its pack and take another.

2. The river valley pack contains river end tilesthat bring the river to the sea, a lake, or a swamp. It is not always a good idea to placea river end tile directly against a river sourcetile as this gives a very short and uninteresting river. If you draw a river end, and the only available position is against a river source, the tile may be returned to the bottom of the river valley pack and another tile taken from the top.

In this situation a player has the option ofplacing the tile or drawing another.

Here the highland tile cannot be placed in itscorrect orientation as the existing mountain will

block the river source.

With two tiles already in place it is possible to use either ahighland or lowland tile in the position shown. Above alowland tile is placed against the plains edge. Below ahighland tile is placed against the mountain edge.


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3. River valley tiles must be placed to allow theriver to flow into an empty space or into an existing lake, swamp or river end. A river cannot be placed so that its course is blockedby a tile that has already been placed. If the tile chosen does not allow this, replace the tile at the bottom of the pack and take another.

4. Do not place a tile if doing so would block the course of an existing river.

5. The river valley pack contains a special forked tile. This is only required to join two converging rivers. It is included to resolve a rare but interesting situation that would otherwise produce a potential stalemate in which no tile could be placed. Unless required, the tile is replaced at the bottom ofthe pack when drawn and another tile is taken.

6. The river valley pack contains a special laketile that provides another possible means of allowing rivers to merge. Rivers may be positioned so that they run into the lake at any of three points. A single river may also bepositioned so that it runs out of the lake. Anylake tile edges may also be matched against lowland tiles to create an enclosed lake. Thetile’s remaining free edges match with the lowland set.

Do not place a river so that its course is blocked.

Do not place a tile so that it blocks the course ofan existing river.

The forked tile is provided toallow two rivers to converge.

The lake is placed as a river outlet and can also be usedto unite two converging rivers. A single river may runout of any remaining side.


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7. The river valley pack contains a special swamp tile. The swamp tile may be used to end a river in the same way as a lake – the river dissipating into an area of swamp. The tile is designed so that a river may run in at any edge. Once the swamp is in place, a player may lay a river tile against one free edge, indicating that the river is running outof the swamp and continuing its course. As with the lake, several rivers may run into a swamp, but only one river may run out – a swamp may therefore be used to converge several rivers. It is possible that a river tile coming from a swamp will give a coastal riverend or lake – in which case the swamp represents a low lying delta or marshy reed-bed. Lowland tiles may be placed against anyfree swamp edge.

8. A tile must not be placed so that it creates ablank space in the land area of the map – thiswould create holes that might prove difficultto fill.

9. Coastlines always follow a line from one tileto another, creating a properly defined coast.River end tiles must not be placed so that thecoastline runs into a land edge. If a river endtile is drawn, and if it cannot be placed against a river edge, the tile is replaced at thebottom of the pack and another tile is taken.A variety of river endings are provided, so it is usually possible to find one that matches existing coastlines.

The swamp tile is placed as a river outlet and can beused to unite up to six converging rivers.

Do not leave a blank space like this.

Do not position a river valley ending so that existingtiles interfere with the coastline.


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10. Coastal tiles may only be placed in such a way that they continue an established coastline and don’t block existing rivers. Coastal tiles will therefore only be placed once a river ending has been positioned.

11. The coastal pack contains two tiles that canfunction as optional river ends. The tile is laid from an adjoining coast edge as normal,but can be positioned as a river mouth without blocking an adjoining river, as woulda normal coastal tile. You will notice that these tiles have several possible river mouths,and so can be oriented through more than one position. Because these tiles have more than one possible outlet, a single tile may serve as the outlet for more than one river ifrequired. These special tiles may also be placed just like ordinary coast tiles, representing inlets or heavily indented stretches of coast.

12. As you begin to exhaust the sets, you will find that it becomes impossible to place further tiles. Once you can place no more tiles the map is complete.

13. Once the map is complete, capitals are selected and placed as already described (p2). Placing capitals will displace other tiles– the player can add these to the edges of themap once he has positioned his capital.

14. Please note that these guidelines are intended to help produce a coherent map, but ultimately it is up to you to use your judgement to create an inspiring and realisticfantasy world. Most of the placement guidelines are just common sense and are intended to make the map geographically credible. There will always be situations where you might prefer not to use a particular tile, or where you’d like to reposition a tile in order to improve the map.You might also like to tidy the map by repositioning tiles once the sets are exhausted. This is all quite acceptable and will help to make the final map both attractive and functional.

Players can create a map co-operatively ifdesired. Establish who goes first by rolling adice – then work round clockwise in ‘rounds’.Each player draws and lays a tile in turn untilall of the tiles are used up or no further tilescan be placed. If a player does not want to laya tile he does not have to do so – he can simplypass for that round.

Do not place a coastal tile where the coastlineinterferes with the existing tiles.

Some coastal sections may also serve as river endings.

This secondcapital tilecannot beplaced hereas it is tooclose to thefirst capital


Mighty Empires

EMPIRESAt the start of the campaign, each empireconsists of a capital tile plus all the adjoiningtiles – ie, seven tiles in total. Place anappropriate territory marker in each of thesetiles (see below).

If the capital lies on the sea or the map edgesome of the player’s territory will be lost, inwhich case the empire will be slightly smallerthan normal.

SPECIAL LOCATIONSThe map automatically includes speciallocations such as mines, wizard’s towers,necropoli, and so on. These can berepresented with suitable models if you havethem (these pieces were originally produced asmetal castings for the Mighty Empires gameand are no longer available). If you do not havethe models, we suggest you make up countersto use instead.

The map includes one special location perempire taking part in the campaign.

There are six types of special location – each isrepresented by a card counter. Each empireselects one location randomly from the six bydrawing a counter from a cup. Locations thatare not drawn are not used. Once drawn, eachlocation is positioned by the player on the mapas described below.

Special locations cannot be placed in tiles thatare inaccessible (marshes/open sea), in tilesthat are part of an empire’s territory, or in anytile that is adjacent to an empire’s territory.Special locations cannot be placed closer thanthree tiles to another special location.

Special locations give bonuses to the army ofthe empire to which they belong as notedbelow.

SpecialLocation Game Bonus

Mine Mighty Armour – the player can re-roll all the Armour rolls for anyone unit once during the battle.

Wizard’s Mighty Magic – the player canTower cast a spell automatically once

during the battle – the dice is notrolled and the spell is cast as if a successful roll had been made.

Necropolis Might of the Ancestors – the player can add +1 extra attack toone unit during each turn – the bonus applies to that unit in eachcombat round that turn. As the effect is used from turn to turn itcan be applied to a different uniteach turn – but only to one unit in any turn. Note that this is +1 attack in total – not +1 attack perstand.

Temple Might of the Gods – the player can dispel one enemy spell onceper battle in the same way as a Dispel scroll.

Stone Circle Might of Stone – the player can force his opponent to re-roll the dice when he casts a spell. This power continues to work until his opponent scores a successfully Cast on a re-roll.

Bridges Bridges do not confer an in-gamebonus but allow attacking empires to trace a route across rivers as noted below. If a player places bridges as a special location he can place up to three.

THE ARMYEach empire is a great realm full of bustlingcities, towns, and villages, each supplyingtroops for the empire’s armies. These are notrepresented directly on the map. Similarly, wewill not represent forces on the map itself;instead it is considered that the empires havearmies and garrisons stationed within them.During each turn, the empire’s forces are readyto give battle, to defend the borders, or toinvade deep into enemy territory.

Players begin by agreeing the base army size forthe campaign. 1,500-2,000pts is suggested asthis allows games to be resolved reasonablyquickly.

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CAMPAIGN ROUNDSThe campaign is divided into rounds. Eachround consists of three phases. We’ve used theterm rounds rather than turns simply to makethe distinction between turns during a battle.

1. Orders phase

2. Battle phase

3. Post-Battle phase

ORDERS PHASEIn the Orders phase, each empire secretlyindicates which enemy empire it will attack.The players write down or otherwise indicatetheir targets and all reveal at the same time(Note: we found it convenient to use thecoloured empire counters, each player holdingthe appropriate counter in his fist and then allplayers revealing their counters at once).

An empire can only attack another empire if atleast one enemy territory lies within three tilesof one of its own territories. In addition, theremust be a clear route to the empire that is to beattacked. A mountain tile edge, a river withouta bridge, a swamp, a lake, and open sea tiles allblock the route. When determining the route,do not count the edge of the tile the route isbeing taken from – only the edges of the tilesbeing ‘routed’ through (see below).

In the event that an empire cannot make anattack (it is either more than three tiles awayfrom another empire or all of its attack routesare blocked by terrain) then it may attack theclosest empire as the crow flies.

BATTLE PHASEOnce orders are revealed, the attack arrows areplaced on the map to show where attacks havebeen launched. The purpose of the arrows issimply to make it easier to see what is going on.Place each coloured arrow so that it pointsfrom its empire and towards the target.

Not all attacks will necessarily succeed. Beginby working out which attacks succeed.

If an empire is not being attacked, its ownattack succeeds automatically. The targetempire’s attack is cancelled and its attack arrowis removed. The target empire’s own target isno longer being attacked so its own attack nowsucceeds – and so on. Once you have workedthrough this process, all the remaining arrowsshow successful attacks. Note that this willinclude situations where two empires areattacking each other if no others are involved,as well as attacks from those empires that havenot been successfully attacked.

Here, the Red empire bordersboth the Blue and the Greenempires. Although the Blueempire is within three tilesdistance of the Red empire, theRed empire is unable to attackit. This is because the Blueempire tile edge consists ofmountains and there is no clearroute to the Red empire.

Conversely, because the Redempire does not have to crossthe river in the Green empire

tile, it is able to attack it.

GreenEmpire

RedEmpire

BlueEmpire


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Here, the Red empire has opted toattack the Blue empire and theBlue empire has done likewise.

Because the attack from the Yellowempire has been nullified by the

attack from the Green empire thisresults in a one-on-one battle

between Red and Blue.

In the situation below, the players have all decided their orders and placed the attack arrows toindicate which empire is attacking which. The Yellow and Blue empires have decided to gang upupon the Red empire and attack simultaneously but because the Green empire has attacked theYellow empire and isn’t under attack itself, Yellow’s attack on the Red empire is nullified and theYellow empire must play a battle against the Green empire instead.

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In this situation below, the players have all decided their orders and placed the attack arrows onthe map to indicate which empire is attacking which. The Red and Blue empires have decided toattack each other which is fairly straightforward. However, the Green empire has also decided toattack the Blue empire and because the Green empire isn’t under attack itself, the attack will gothrough negating the Blue attack. In the Battle phase, the Red and Green empires will form anallied army against the Blue empire.

Red Empire

GreenEmpire

RedEmpire

BlueEmpire

YellowEmpire

GreenEmpire

RedEmpire

BlueEmpire


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No. of Allies Total army size (based around 1,500 and 2,000pts standard)% 1,500 pts 2,000 pts

2 125% 1,875 (2 armies of 940) 2,500 (2 armies of 1,250)

3 150% 2,250 (3 armies of 750) 3,000 (3 armies of 1,000)

4 175% 2,625 (4 armies of 660) 3,500 (4 armies of 875)

5 200% 3,000 (5 armies of 600) 4,000 (5 armies of 800)

Note that fractions in points resulting from using different standard army sizes are rounded upto the nearest five.

If two empires are attacking each other, theplayers fight a ‘pitched’ battle (in the usualmanner – see page 63 of the Warmasterrulebook) to determine a winner.

In some cases an empire may find itselfattacked by two, three or more enemy empiresat once. In this case, the defender may chooseto either fight separate battles against each ofhis attackers in turn and abide by his worstresult (ie, a win and a loss counts as a lossoverall) or he may fight a single multi-playerbattle against all of the attackers as ‘allies’ (seebelow).

Note that it is theoretically possible for noattacks to succeed – ie, all the attack arrowshave been removed – in which case playanother round. This can only happen if all theempires attack their neighbour to their left orright – forming a complete circle with nomutual attackers. We have never known thisoccur!

Allied ArmiesEach of the allied attackers fields a completebut reduced army as indicated on the chartabove. It was decided that the attackers should

field reduced armies because when playingwith odds of 2:1 or 3:1 the defender stands nochance of winning at all. By reducing the oddsslightly defenders at least stand a chance ofwinning. Each army is chosen in the regularway and must adhere to the usual choicerestrictions for an army of that size – i.e. it mustinclude a general and appropriate minimumnumbers of certain troops.

For all intents and purposes, the allied armiesare separate entities with separate ‘breakpoints’ that move and fight in the same turn. Itis entirely possible for the defender in a multi-player scenario to force one (or more) alliedarmies to withdraw and then be forced towithdraw himself by those allied armies thatremain. If the defender manages to force themajority of the attacking armies to withdraw(both armies with two attackers, two armieswith three attackers, three armies with fourattackers and so on...) then he scores a win andall of the attacking armies lose. If the attackersforce the defender to withdraw and still havemore than half of their armies on thebattlefield, then the attacking armies remainingon the battlefield score a win (allied armies thatare forced to withdraw always lose). Any otheroutcome results in a draw. Victory points onlycount when determining the order empiresmay claim territories.


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When fighting battles as allies, each armydeploys opposite the enemy within the samedeployment zone. Each of the allied armiesmust be deployed in its own designated part ofthe allied deployment zone (ie, if there arethree allied armies, divide the deploymentzone into three areas). This helps to keep eachof the armies together and prevents unitsbecoming isolated from characters.

All allies move and fight in the same turn asthough they were a single army. The only wayin which an allied army differs to an individualarmy is that orders may only be issued to unitsbelonging to the same original army/race as thecharacter issuing it (ie, in an alliance of Dwarfs,Elves and Empire only Dwarf units may receiveorders from Dwarf characters, only Elf unitsmay receive orders from Elf characters, etc).

Post-Battle phaseAs battles are completed, players recordwins/losses and Victory points scored. Once allthe battles have been fought, the empires areawarded the following campaign points.

Win: 3 pts

Draw: 2 pts

Lose: 1 pt

During the post-battle phase, the playersacquire or lose territory depending on theirsuccess in battle. In descending order startingwith the player who scored the most Victorypoints, each player can add territories to hisempire. Note that in some cases an empire mayhave insufficient Campaign points to add aterritory – in which case no territory is addedthat round and any excess Campaign points arelost.

The Campaign points earned that round areused to acquire territory – this can be one, twoor potentially three tiles. The chart below liststhe points required.

3 pts To capture an adjacent territory tile from the empire fought against that round. The enemy’s territory marker is removed and your own is placed there instead.

2 pts To remove an adjacent territory tile from the empire fought against that round. The enemy’s territory marker is removed and the tile reverts to unclaimed wilderness.

1 pt To occupy a tile adjacent to the empire’s own territory and which doesnot already form part of another empire. If the player has two or three points to spend he can therefore add two or three territories to his empire:in this case add one territory at a timeand subsequent territories can be place next to ones already placed if theplayer wishes.

NON-AGGRESSION PACTSA player can form a non-aggression pact withany other player or players whose empireadjoins his own. If both players agree then theyhave a NAP for that turn – each has agreed notto attack the other. Note that this does notmean the players aren’t allowed to attack eachother – it is perfectly allowed to break a NAP –but this will lead to a certain amount ofmistrust in future. It’s up to you!

A player can make an attack through theterritory of another empire that he has a NAPwith. The player simply treats the NAP’edempire’s territory as his own. This will allowthe player to launch an attack on other enemiesthat might otherwise be to far away or dividedfrom him by the NAP’ed empire.


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DESTROYING EMPIRESIf an empire loses its capital tile then it isdestroyed and the player is out of thecampaign. All of the territories that werepreviously part of the empire immediatelyrevert to unoccupied land and all territorymarkers are removed.

A capital can only be destroyed if it is thespecific target of an attack. This is called acapital assault. To make a capital assault, theattacking empire must already own a territorytile that is adjacent to the capital tile.

At the start of the Orders phase the attackingempire(s) must openly announce that it isgoing to launch a capital assault. The playerpositions his attack arrow accordingly and thenthe remaining players work out their attackssecretly in the usual manner. Note that thisgives the other players an opportunity tonegate the capital assault by attacking theempire(s) making the assault.

Instead of a standard pitched battle, play agame of siege using the final scenario (3) andrules from Warmag 9 ‘Into the Breach’. If theattackers win, they have captured the enemycapital and thrown down that empire.

WINNING THE CAMPAIGNIn our experience, campaigns can oftenbecome very long affairs and players’enthusiasm inevitably dims after a while. Wetherefore recommend that the campaign isplayed to a set number of rounds or until oneempire has conquered half of the territory tileson the map. The empire that has the largestterritory once all the rounds have been playedis the winner.

Needless to say it is perfectly feasible to set anyvictory conditions you wish or to continue torun the campaign indefinitely if you prefer.

TEAM PLAYIn the team game, each empire is representedby a team of between one and seven players –we recommend three or four players perempire as ideal. It is usual for each empire torepresent a single race (High Elves, Orcs &Goblins, Dwarfs, etc) but empires can be mixedif this is convenient. If you have a varied anduneven selection of armies it is often morepractical to divide into Good and Evil empiresrather than try to stick to racial types.

Note that in a long-term campaign it is notstrictly necessary that every member of eachteam participate in every round. The systemcan accommodate periodic absences, holidays,and occasional participants, as well asunexpected visitors.

TerritoriesYou will need to number the empire territorymarkers to represent individual players, eg Red1, Red 2, Red 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Blue 3, etc.Thus the Red empire is represented by all thered territories, and Red 2’s territories areindicated by the Red 2 markers.

At the start of the campaign, one player in eachempire is elected as overall ruler (the number1 territory marker for convenience). Eachplayer begins by placing an equal number ofterritory markers starting with the overall rulerwho must place his first marker in the capital.Once each player has placed an equal numberof markers the ruler takes any territories leftover. So, with three players each takes twoterritories and the leader takes a third, withfour players each takes one territory and theleader takes the remaining three, and so on.

OrdersThe overall ruler decides where to attack eitherin consultation with his team or not as he

pleases. It’s great to be King!


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BattlesOnce successful attacks have been establishedbattles are fought between players from thewarring empires.

If two empires are attacking each other thenthe players simply pair off. This can be donerandomly or by mutual agreement – it does notgreatly matter. If you use the coloured andnumbered territory markers then you canrandomly allocate partners by pulling theseblind from a cup.

If there are more players on one side thananother, excess players double up with theirteam mates to fight two on one battles usingthe allied rules. If necessary fight three on one,four on one and so on, so that all the playersare taking part.

If two or more empires are successfullyattacking another, begin by allocating all theplayers from the attacked empire toopponents. Alternate between enemies startingwith the most numerous. So, if there are fiveRed players taking on an alliance of five Blueand three yellow allocate Red to Blue, Red toYellow, Red to Blue, Red to Yellow, and Red toBlue. Finally, randomly allocate the remainingattacking players to existing battles. This willresult in two on one battles with allied armiesfrom the same or different empires dependingon the draw.

Any in-game benefits from special locationsapply only to the individual playerwho owns the correspondingterritory – they do not apply tothe empire as a whole or toentire allied armies.

Post BattleDetermine how many battles each empire haslost, won, or drawn that round. Allocatecampaign points as follows.

3 pts The empire has won more battles thanit has drawn/lost.

2 pts The empire has neither won more battles than it has drawn/lost nor lost more battles than he has drawn/won.

1 pts The empire has lost more battles thanit has won/drawn.

The empire’s campaign points are allocated tothe individual player who both won his battleand scored the most victory points. Start withthe empire whose player scored the mostvictory points and then proceed to otherEmpires in descending order as described forthe individual game.

In the team game, a player can only acquire amaximum of one territory per round (except asnoted below). The player places his territorymarker in the tile to show he has takenpossession of it. The tile can be anywhere onthe edge of the empire – it does not have to becontiguous with the player’s existing territoriesso long as it is contiguous with the empire as awhole.


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Mighty Empires

If there are any campaign points left over oncethe player has acquired a new territory, thenthese pass to the next highest scoringvictorious player in that empire. Once again theplayer can acquire a maximum of one territory.If there is a final point remaining the nexthighest scoring victorious player can use it toacquire a territory as well.

If there are only one or two victorious playersin the empire then any surfeit points recycle tothe first player again – in which case the playermay get to place more than one territory in thatround. If no players are victorious (say all drawor lose) then the points go to the highestscoring drawers – if all players lose to thehighest scoring loser.

Note that at the start of the campaign whenthere is plenty of ‘one point’ territory toacquire it is usual for three players to eachexpand their territories when their empirewins the round. Later, as territories have to bewon from the enemy, it is usual that only thetop scoring player gets to place a territory.

In long term team games, a player who has noterritory left can continue to play and will getthe opportunity to acquire new territoryexactly as before. Individual players do not getknocked out just because they have noterritory. This is arranged for lengthycampaigns where players intend the campaignto last over several weeks or months.

In a weekend or inter-club game where aresolution is required within a relatively shorttime then individual players are knocked outonce they have no territory. This will tip thebalance of the game more quickly as empireswith fewer players will be forced to fight moretwo on one and eventually three on one andfour on 1 battles.

If a player has more territory than the empire’sleader then he can challenge the currentleader. In a long term campaign this can beresolved as a battle (civil war) but in an inter-club team game it is best resolvedautomatically. The player with the mostterritory automatically assumes the leadershipof the empire if, in any subsequent round, heboth wins his battle and scores more Victorypoints than the current leader.

THE WINNERSThere are several ways to resolve victors inteam games – in an inter-club game or similarcompetitive team event this is usually doneafter a fixed number of battles or a fixed timelimit. The empire with the largest territory atthat time is the winner – in the event of a tiecompare the final round Victory points of therival team leaders.

NOTE ON ALLIED BATTLESIn a long running team campaign it is quitecommon to find that a disproportionatenumber of the games become two on oneaffairs because the teams are not evenlyrepresented. This can get a bit tedious after awhile. We therefore normally allow excessplayers to play ‘civil war’ games against fellowteam members or against allies if they areagreeable. This just allows us to sort the gamesinto more 1 on 1’s if this is what the player’sprefer. Wins and losses score to each playersown empire as normal, and victory scorescount for territory allocation in the normal way.Regardless of which players actually fought –the enemy empires fought against that round isstill the ‘enemy’ for purposes of removingterritory.


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